Land O’ Lakes girl, 7, bitten while hugging neighbor’s pit bull

A 7-year-old girl was treated for injuries to her face after a neighbor’s pit bull bit her when she tried to hug it, Pasco County Animal Control officials said.

According to a report from the Pasco County Animal Control Office, Salena Posada’s mother told an officer that her daughter had been playing with their neighbor’s dog “Bubba” near their home on Spanish Lane in Land O’ Lakes.

Jason Dewalt, the dog’s owner, had the dog on a leash and was about to bring it inside when Salena tried to hug the dog around its neck to say goodnight, but the dog instead bit her on the face, the report says.

An animal control officer placed the dog on quarantine and the animal is currently not allowed to leave Dewalt’s home, the report said.

Dewalt told the officer he considered euthanizing the dog after the bite, but now plans to turn the dog over to a pit bull rescue group in Orlando after the quarantine, the report said. Dewalt told the officer that several people had made threats to kill his dog since the incident, the report said.

The report states that the dog was in good health and showed no aggression to the officer when he visited Dewalt’s home, but was not wearing any collar license or identification tag.

The girl’s mother, Fanny Posada, told deputies that the dog always played with the neighborhood children and never showed any aggression, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said.

Fanny Posada said she is in contact with a lawyer about the incident, the animal control report said.